Jays hammer Yanks, take series opener

Fresh off a 6-1 homestand against the lowly Indians and Orioles, the Yanks rolled into Toronto for the first time this season to play the powerful and surprising Blue Jays. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t the Yankees’ night, as the Blue Jays continued their homerun derby act early on and won by a 6-1 score that seemed a lot more lopsided than it really was.

Photo Credit: Darren Calabrese, The Canadian Press/AP

Swing Hard In Case You Hit It

That’s the old saying, and Ben and I were joking about it a few weeks ago when Marcus Thames hit that walk-off homer against Jonathan Papelbon. The Jays seem to have taken that mantra to heart, leading MLB with a .226 ISO (nearly 40 points better than anyone else) while ranking near the bottom of the league with a .248 team batting average. There’s no shortening up and trying to find a hole here, they just grip it and rip it.

Photo Credit: Darren Calabrese, The Canadian Press/AP

I don’t know what the hell is going up in Toronto, but it’s pretty nuts how all of a sudden everyone and their mother has turned into a power hitter. Jose Bautista, a guy who came into a year with a career .162 ISO, had already tied his career high of 16 homers through the team’s first 55 games of the season, and all he did was add to that total on Friday.

His first homer of the night came on a relatively harmless 3-2 fastball in the 2nd inning, a solo shot that clanked off the facade of the upper deck in left field. It was no cheapie, that’s for sure, but a one run deficit in the 2nd inning is nothing. Two innings later, Bautista stepped to the plate with Vernon Wells on first thanks to a dinky little infield single, except he didn’t wait around for the count to run full. After two fastballs off the plate (and a pickoff throw), Bautista jumped all over a fastball that ran back over the plate, hitting out and off the upper deck facade in left again. Another no-doubter and a three run lead.

Edwin Encarnacion tacked on another long ball in the 5th inning for good measure, giving the Jays 94 on the season. No one else has even 80. Where is this coming from?

Double Plays: A Rally Killing Story

This game felt like a blow out at times, but the Yankees certainly had a few chances to get back in it. Alex Rodriguez stepped to the plate in the 4th inning with men on first and second and no outs with the score still just 1-0, but he chopped a tailor made double play ball to shortstop Alex Gonzalez that seemingly took the Yankees’ chances of scoring along with it. Nick Swisher was able to go from second to third on the play, but was ultimately stranded.

Two inning later, the Yankees again got the first two men on – this time at first and third – but Swish got caught out in front and slapped another tailor made double play ball to Gonzalez. Chad Moeller came into the score from third, but the rally was gone. They had a chance to put a dent in what was then a four run deficit, but could only manage the one run. For shame.

The Yankees also wasted a leadoff single in the 3rd and a leadoff double in the 7th, so it just wasn’t happening tonight. Go back to the hotel, forget about it, and come back ready to do some damage tomorrow.

D’oh!

The Yankees have to know by now that Bautista’s a fastball hitter (+2.51 runs above average for every 100 fastballs thrown) and throwing him eight straight fastballs in his first two at-bats was a dumb idea. He got four curveballs (including one in a 2-0 count) and two fastballs (well off the plate) in his third at-bat for a walk, then two straight fastballs for a double his fourth time up. Andy Pettitte and Javy Vazquez employ the kitchen sink approach, so theoretically they’ll have a better chance of dealing with Bautista than Burnett and Sergio Mitre did in this game.

Photo Credit: Darren Calabrese, The Canadian Press/AP

Solo homers aren’t the worst thing in the world, and apparently there’s no stopping the Blue Jays from hitting them. The Yanks just have to make sure they don’t give their hitters free bases on walks and what not the rest of the series. Burnett walked four in six innings tonight, so it’s no surprise that he got smacked around.

Tip your cap to Brett Cecil, he mixed his pitches very well (18 four-seamers, 23 sinkers, 28 changeups, 30 sliders, six curves) and recorded 19 of his 24 outs either via strikeout or ground ball. The Yanks were off balance all night, it was a great performance by the young lefty.

And what was up with Swisher forgetting the count in the 9th? He took ball four, but just stood there waiting to get back into the box to the continue the at-bat until the ump told him what was up. That’s the third time he’s forgotten the count/number of outs since the Twins series in Minnesota.

Brilliant!

Bob Lorenz doing the play-by-play. I love it and I want more of it. Hopefully getting Jack Curry in the booth isn’t too far behind.

How about Curtis Granderson‘s catch at the wall of Adam Lind’s liner in the 1st? Been a while since the Yankees had a guy who could make a catch like that, and now they have two. And even though he didn’t have any hits to show for it, Grandy hit the ball right on the screws in his second and third at-bats. You almost don’t want him to take the game off tomorrow.

Marcus Thames even flashed some leather tonight, catching a ball at the wall deep in the leftfield corner then throwing out the tagging runner at third for the double play. He doesn’t make a nice defensive play often, but when he does, it’s glorious.

Bob Lorenz was outstanding as play-by-play man. I agree totally with you, Mike.

The Three Amigos

I have always liked him on the postgame and was shocked when they put him in the booth. It was a move probably from necessity ( I guess announcers get days off?) but it went very well.

Meat Loaf

He rarely stumbled over his words, made big play calls with ease, and wasn’t as irritating as Kay trying to insult Flash. I really enjoyed his game calling. We should get him for the rest of the series, no?

forensicnucchem

I don’t really understand the love of Lorenz. He was ok, but he’s pretty boring and I hate when he laughs at his own jokes that aren’t funny (mostly on the post/pre game shows). Add that to the suckiness of Flaherty and the ugly game and it was a pretty painful night.

Meat Loaf

And you’re saying that Michael Kay does not laugh at his own jokes?

Salty Buggah

A-Rod didn’t chop a grounder to short, he hit it pretty damn well. Unfortunately, it was a one-hopped right to Gonzalez.

Also, I want the boring WPA channel from yesterday back. As long as the line ends on the Yanks side, I don’t care how boring it is.

poster

Actually, I thought A-Rod smoked it to the Hole and Gonzalez made a decent play to get it. Then he made a flip to the 2b that was a bit off, so the 2b actually had to barehand the ball and then throw to first to complete the play. It was a really nice overall play and certainly not A-Rod’s fault, IIRC.

Salty Buggah

Yea, you’re right. It wasn’t exactly hit right to him, and the smoked ball did spin Gonzalez around a bit.

poster

I was surprised at the time that neither of the announcers mentioned anything about the 2b barehanding the ball.

http://youcantpredictbaseball.wordpress.com/ bexarama

It was a really nice overall play and certainly not A-Rod’s fault, IIRC.

Uh. It’s always Javy’s A-Rod’s fault.

http://www.teamnerdrage.com dr mrs the yankee

It’s the non-homo milk in bags powering the Jays

Dick Whitman

Cliff Lee – 2.5 WAR

Tom Zig

Can we test the entire blue jays team for steroids?

Pasqua

“I don’t know what the hell is going up in Toronto, but it’s pretty nuts how all of a sudden everyone and their mother has turned into a power hitter.”

Must be all the free health care.

Rick in Boston

There was talk last night that the Jays might be stealing signs. They’re a good hitting team overall, but they slug 65 points higher at the Skydome then on the road.

pat

You don’t need to steal signs to hit fat belt high fastballs out of the park.

http://twitter.com/riddering Riddering

The Phillies have forgotten how to do it though.

http://twitter.com/riddering Riddering

As much as the Blue Jays’s success annoys me (as it reinforces low OBP, high K% ways) I take comfort in the fact that it’s more about the surprisingly solid pitching than the swing-for-the-fences methodology.

Moosejaw

Michael Kay did not want to have to deal with Canadian income tax so he scheduled his vacation accordingly.